The US have launched a series of new air strikes against Islamic State (formerly ISIS) militants in Iraq, despite threat from the group that they will execute another US captive.
The strikes come in the wake of the video of the beheading of US reporter James Foley by an Islamic State militant with a British accent, that made headlines around the world. The video also showed pictures of a second missing US reporter, Steven Joel Sotloff, who the militants threatened to execute if the US continued its air strikes against the Islamic State.
Since the video was released, US Navy jets and drones have launched 14 air strikes on Islamic State militants near the strategically important city of Mosul, providing air cover to Kurdish and Iraqi forces battling the jihadi group on the ground.
Meanwhile, British intelligence services are working to identify the jihadist who was shown beheading Foley on the graphic video. His accent appears to be similar to the “international English” spoken in east London, and intelligence offers are using voice recognition software amongst other tools to determine his identity from the 500 British nationals believed to have joined jihadi groups in Syria.